Trouble Followed Me Home
by parisindy
Summary: Harper gets into trouble... again


Not my best fic but oh well I hope it's not to stinky….  
  
+++++++++++++++++++  
  
Trouble Followed Me Home  
  
By parisindy  
  
Nov 3 2001  
  
Disclaimer: it's not mine I just wrote it. There are some small teeny tiny swears. This is probably  
  
P.G. 13 but I'm not sure.  
  
there are some spoilers as of probably episode 3 of season 2..hope you like it.  
  
_________________  
  
Harper sat at the helm of the Eureka Maru. It felt good to be out he hadn't been  
  
with out leave forever!  
  
He turned the controls quickly making the Maru do a flip.  
  
The Maru wasn't really meant for flips but it made Harper feel better.  
  
"Boy, fly straight or are you unable to do so?!"  
  
Harper made faces at Tyr that he couldn't see.  
  
OK so this wasn't shore leave  
  
they were flying to a planet so Tyr could make contact with a political fraction willing to sell them  
  
weapons.  
  
Dylan wanted to make sure they were ready for their next encounter with the world ship.  
  
Harper was along in case anything happened to the Maru.  
  
Nothing would, Harper kept it in as good as  
  
shape as he could.  
  
He was mostly along because Dylan didn't think Tyr would get into to much trouble with Harper  
  
to baby-sit.  
  
But he didn't care, he had heard this particularly planet was a pretty rowdy place and right now  
  
Harper felt rowdy!  
  
He started to put the Maru into another flip when an oversized hand gripped the flight controls.  
  
"Enough! Out!...Go fix something."  
  
"Awwwwwww Tyr!"  
  
"GO!"  
  
Harper unbuckled the safety harness and slipped out of the seat and Tyr took  
  
his place. It was going to be good to be on a planet again. Fresh air! Sky and soil! Heck maybe  
  
even some native babes.  
  
He stopped suddenly. Tyr was giving him an evil look.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You won't get there any faster any faster if you decide to walk the distance."  
  
"Oh." Harper hadn't realized he had been pacing. "So where are we going to  
  
meet this guy? Some steamy back water joint? Near a port?" Harper rubbed his  
  
hands together at the though of some water possible with waves for surfing with babes to watch.  
  
Harper started to pace again.  
  
"Hardly, we are meeting her at a hotel."  
  
"Really a hotel? What kind of hotel?"  
  
"Enough! Get your mind out of the gutter and off the bridge, you're driving  
  
me to distraction!"  
  
"Sheesh...." Harper headed to his quarters and flopped on his bunk.  
  
Man he was way too jazzed for a nap. He got up again and started searching through  
  
his quarters it was so tiny compared to the ones on Andromeda but it still felt comfy to him.  
  
Way better then anything he had had on earth.  
  
Harper pulled open the old fridge that he had scavenged from somewhere.  
  
It was filled with empty cans.  
  
"hmmpp....." he dug towards the back and sure enough he pulled out a sparky.  
  
"ahhhhhhhh.." Nothing like a sparky to help a guy relax.  
  
Harper sat on his bunk it was just a matter of time before he was on the beach.  
  
--------------------------  
  
_______________  
  
3 hours later.  
  
_______________  
  
The Maru landed in one of the planets local ports. It was hot and dusty in the landing bay. Harper  
  
was wishing he had another Sparky. Tyr was doing all the business stuff ...like paying for docking  
  
space for the Maru.  
  
Harper looked out a view port while he waited. It was a winter desert! Not a  
  
beach, tree or even a sun in sight. Aww man this is going to suck he thought  
  
to him self.  
  
He grabbed the arm of a tech that was walking by.  
  
"Hey, what's the temp outside?"  
  
"Around -42 degrees hope you brought some long underwear?" he laughed, patted Harper on the  
  
back and walked away.  
  
"Ha ha." Replied Harper dryly.  
  
Tyr walked towards him.  
  
"Did you see it outside?? It's an ice cube!!"  
  
"You can stay on the ship and wait for my return"  
  
"Not a chance! I am on a planet! A frozen ice cube of a planet but a planet none the less! And  
  
some girl will be looking for me to warm her up!"  
  
Tyr rolled his eyes "we're wasting time."  
  
They walked through the port to a connecting tunnel. The connecting tunnel was about a  
  
kilometer long and emerged into the hub of a large complex. There were humanoids everywhere,  
  
more then one appealed to Harper  
  
but Tyr seemed in a hurry and stopping to commune with the natives wasn't an  
  
option. It was very crowded and had little shop stalls everywhere it reminded Harper of some of  
  
the old open-air markets on earth. Tyr did stop at one store stall, one that sold books not on  
  
flexi's.  
  
Harper walked over to a nearby wall.  
  
It was made of ice!  
  
"This is ridiculous!...who are we meeting with the ice queen?"  
  
Tyr ignored him. Harper started to wander a little farther away to look at a stall that had music  
  
programs.  
  
"Boy, if you get lost it's not my concern!"  
  
"Yeah yeah!" Harper waved his hand at Tyr he wasn't a child he did fine on his own for years  
  
without a baby-sitter on earth, he certainly didn't need a large Nietzschien one now! He stopped  
  
to talk to the girl selling the music...at least he hoped she was a girl sometimes it was hard to tell  
  
with different species.  
  
He looked over his shoulder to see where Tyr was and Tyr wasn't anywhere to bee seen.  
  
"Crap." Harper swore.  
  
He looked around it was hard to see anything since the most common race on this planet made  
  
Tyr seem short. He tried to look  
  
for something to climb on to get a better view. There was scaffolding near  
  
an old stall. He made his way over to it he was just about to climb it when a street person  
  
approached him.  
  
"Sir do you have a throne you can spare?"  
  
"ahhh, no sorry"  
  
The man grabbed Harper and shoved him against one of the ice walls and  
  
held him there by his throat.  
  
Harper grabbed the man's arm trying to break his grip.  
  
"How about I take some of your pretty hide then!" Suddenly there were two more  
  
men just like him. Where did they come from? They grabbed at his blaster, one of them pulled  
  
out his vial of medicine and his wallet.  
  
Harper was being mugged. Harper growled and kicked out with his legs.  
  
He did manage to kick the guy holding him in the shin. The Street Person yelped and let go of  
  
Harper's throat.  
  
One of his buddies slugged Harper in the stomach.  
  
He doubled over in pain.  
  
There were flashes of light over his head. Harper looked up. Tyr was firing  
  
his force lance in the air. Firing the force lance seemed a bit unnecessary they pretty much had  
  
been frightened off at the sight of him.  
  
Harper suspected Tyr just liked shooting things.  
  
" Are you done playing pretty boy." Tyr laughed at his own joke. "Or  
  
can we go to the hotel now?"  
  
"Shut up Tyr." Harper quickly picked up his stuff off the street. His medicine was there but his  
  
wallet was empty and his blaster was gone.  
  
When he followed Tyr this time he was careful not to lose him.  
  
____  
  
They entered the hotel about 15 minutes later and walked over to the desk to  
  
get their rooms. They Hotel manager looked at them kind of oddly and looked  
  
at Tyr's I.D very closely. Harper explained his was stolen which might have been a problem but  
  
he didn't even question it. He just nodded and hurriedly showed them to their rooms.  
  
Harper stood in the hallway talking to Tyr after the man left.  
  
"That was weird, he seemed nervous?"  
  
Tyr shrugged his shoulders  
  
"When do we met the Ice Queen?"  
  
"Our Contact, will meet us at the hotel restaurant tomorrow at..."  
  
Tyr quit talking as two men approached them. The men were both dressed in black and carried  
  
blasters.  
  
"Tyr Anasazi?"  
  
"Who's asking?"  
  
"And this is Seamus Harper?"  
  
"Again who's asking?"  
  
"We're hotel security, your names are all over the net. Your both under  
  
arrest for the murder of Congressman Ammerton and for attempted arms  
  
smuggling."  
  
Tyr drew his force lance and started firing. Harper who was weaponless  
  
dived into Tyr's hotel room. Tyr quickly followed and slammed the door behind  
  
him. The men started pounding, it wouldn't belong before they got through.  
  
"Quick, out the window!"  
  
"What, are you nuts! Outside is Outside! It's minus 42!"  
  
"There are no other options." Tyr smashed the window with a chair. A cold blast filled the room  
  
with a loud howl from the wind.  
  
"I wonder who Congressmen Ammerton is?" Yelled Harper over the wind. He  
  
was already shivering.  
  
"Later," Tyr yelled back as he cleared some of the glass from the window.  
  
With out any more warning Tyr jumped out the window.  
  
Harper walked up to the window and looked out. It was at least 4 stories down. Tyr had already  
  
landed in the snow and was running. With a final bang the hotel room door flew open.  
  
Harper closed his eyes and jumped.  
  
****************************  
  
Harper Landed on two feet. It was a terrible jolt. He rolled forward into  
  
the snow. The snow must have cushioned his fall somewhat. Cat's land on  
  
their feet Harper thought but he didn't understand how they did it. A Lot of strange  
  
thoughts run through your head when your running for your life and lying in  
  
a snow bank.  
  
Tyr had run back for him. Harper was surprised that he had.  
  
"Are you dead?"  
  
"Don't know" came Harper's muffled reply. His face was still partially  
  
covered by snow. "I can't feel anything"  
  
"Get up now or you will die." Tyr pulled him to his feet and they ran.  
  
The hotel security shot out the window at them but they were already to far away.  
  
"Tyr!" Harper tried to shout over the wind but he hadn't heard him "Tyr!"  
  
The Nietzschien turned and looked back. "How do we get back in to the Maru?"  
  
"Keep moving...I'm looking?"  
  
Harper wasn't even cold which was strange considering how cold it was  
  
suppose to be. He looked down at his hands. They were purple with bits of  
  
white. Oh oh that couldn't be good.  
  
They walked. Harper followed Tyr his mind focused on nothing else He watched  
  
Tyr's hair slowly turn white....."Harper get up!""wha...what?"  
  
"If you stop you'll die." Harper hadn't realized he had stopped. He felt  
  
really tired and sleepy in a pleasant way.  
  
"I'm just going to rest for a minute....." Harper closed his eyes.  
  
Tyr said some rude remark about humans but he was too tired to care.  
  
"I won't carry you!""It's OK." Harper whispered.  
  
Tyr hauled him to his feet by the scruff of his neck and made him stand. He  
  
almost fell over again. Tyr had pushed him.  
  
Harper looked at him angrily. Tyr pushed him again. "Quit it!""Walk Kluge!"  
  
"What did you call me?!"  
  
" My parents talked of the slaves on earth I always wondered what it would  
  
be like to have one of my own."  
  
" I'll KILL YOU!! " Harper took a swing at Tyr his blood was boiling.  
  
Tyr easily blocked the blow... and grabbed the front of Harper's shirt.  
  
"Do you hate me boy? Then walk...live another day so you can kill me!"  
  
Harper swore loudly at him but kept walking.***  
  
Harper lost track of time it felt like he was outside forever. Tyr asked  
  
him a question but he didn't understand it and he was made to walk in front.  
  
They walked around the outside of the building towards the landing bay doors  
  
Tyr had found small side door. It was sealed shut be he still had his force  
  
lance so he blasted the lock. They were in.  
  
Being inside hurt a lot!! Harpers skin felt like it was on fire. Tyr threatened him once again about staying awake  
  
but it was one of those thing  
  
the more you tried not to think about it....  
  
Tyr was shaking him...man it hurt. Harper tired not to yell.  
  
"There's guards all around the Maru stay here and stay hidden, when I call  
  
you run as fast as you can on board." Harper nodded mute for once in his  
  
life. If he spoke he was sure it would be a scream. He felt ill. Harper blinked and Tyr was gone.  
  
There was blaster fire and he could hear the force lance as well. Sparks of a blaster hit the ice wall near Harper's  
  
hiding place.  
  
"Harper run!" Harper ran. He wasn't sure he was running in a straight line but he ran as fast as he could on feet he  
  
couldn't feel. He looked up once and Tyr was half hidden behind some cargo he was completely pinned by weapons  
  
fire.  
  
"TYR!" Harper screamed but all that did was draw some weapons fire in his direction. He ran up the small ramp  
  
and in to the Maru. He looked out the port window. Tyr stood with his hands in the air. The guards had him  
  
surrounded. Then a humanoid man, possibly the head of the guards, walked up, looked Tyr in the eyes and pulled  
  
the trigger on his blaster.  
  
Tyr fell with out a sound.  
  
Harper screamed as he watched his friend fall.  
  
He saw guards approaching the Maru.  
  
"No, this isn't happening" muttered Harper as he ran to the dock doors and slammed them closed.  
  
He ran to the Helm and looked out one last time.  
  
Tyr laid on the deck unmoving until a couple of guards grabbed his arms and started pulling his corpse away.  
  
"Oh Gawd."  
  
Harper climbed into the helm chair as best he could he didn't bother trying to fasten the harness his hands wouldn't  
  
have complied. He noticed something was moving outside the corner of his eye. Someone was trying to ferry  
  
another ship out in front of the Maru to block his escape. Harper closed his eyes for a nano second, took a deep  
  
breath and fired up the Maru's engines.  
  
He could hear blaster fire on his hull.  
  
With the palm of his numb hand he pushed the thrusters forward. The maru shot forward just clipping the ship  
  
trying to block them.  
  
The other ship spun out of control and bounced off one of the ice walls. But, Harper didn't notice. It took all his  
  
concentration just to head the ship towards orbit. His vision was producing a funny strobe like effect and he was  
  
having trouble concentrating. The gray sky quickly faded though as he entered orbit.  
  
There was a loud crash and the Maru rocked back and forth.  
  
He was being fired on. They must having been waiting for them here!  
  
What could these people possibly think that they had done? ... sure they were trying to smuggle weapons but they  
  
hadn't killed anyone!  
  
They killed Tyr. Harper pushed that thought from his head.  
  
They continued to fire on him but he suddenly saw an opening.  
  
That was a little too easy he thought as he entered slipstream.  
  
The Maru flipped and turned in the slipstream. Harper was having trouble maintaining control. There was another  
  
crash.  
  
AWWW crap they had followed him into the slipstream. That moment of distraction caused him to crash into one  
  
side of the slipstream tunnel. Harper who did not have his harness on flew forward and hit the helm controls hard,  
  
his vision quickly grew black. Wait he saw something. He fought against the impending darkness and hit a button  
  
by his head.  
  
"Rommie it's Harper...." And that's all that he could remember  
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
The world came into focus slowly. Dylan and Trance were standing over him. Trance was smiling Dylan was not.  
  
"Hey." he started weakly  
  
"Welcome back Mister Harper, how are you feeling?"  
  
Trance had her hand on his head and brushed the hair out of his eyes.  
  
Harper was still trying to put two thought's together.  
  
"Tyr..." he remember and closed his eyes, he couldn't look at their faces any more...he had left Tyr behind.  
  
"Tyr's alive and being held hostage."  
  
Harper looked up with shock at Dylan.  
  
"They killed him...."  
  
"He's OK really!" Trance cooed trying to soothe him."...well sort of anyway."  
  
"He's alive!! oh Gawd...I left him behind!" Harper covered his face with his hands only barely noticing they were  
  
bandaged.  
  
"There was nothing you could have done Mr. Harper."  
  
Harper wasn't convinced and felt sick again.  
  
"But, we do need to know what happened, it seems who ever you two pisssed off, is holding him hostage and wants  
  
to trade Tyr for you."  
  
"Wha .... What!"  
  
"It seems trouble has followed you home Mr. Harper."  
  
Harper sat up in his bed.  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"First tell me what happened" replied Dylan.  
  
Harper went through the story....  
  
"But I didn't kill anybody why would someone want to frame me?"  
  
"I don't know Mr. Harper but we will find out"  
  
Harper avoided their eyes and asked the next question..."Um, so... when ever you want to trade  
  
me I'm game...I mean, I don't want you guys to get in trouble.."  
  
Dylan put his hand on Harper shoulder "Relax Mr. Harper we're not going to do anything that  
  
extreme..we'll figure this out."  
  
________________  
  
Tyr woke up in cell made primarily of ice. He had been stunned but his body had recovered  
  
quickly. He took stock of his situation. His weapons were gone but he was unbound. The cell was  
  
old fashioned other wise. It did not have any electronic fields only ice and bars. Tyr was already  
  
devising ideas of escape. When some one appeared out side his cell.  
  
Tyr couldn't help but smile "it's you! Outstanding!"  
  
Marshall Jaeger did not smile back.  
  
"We do not have the information you seek, Mr. Harper got rid of it and in the state he was in I  
  
doubt he even remembers where it is."  
  
"I am no longer interested in that information..."  
  
"Really?" Tyr's interest was peaked "What could you possibly want?"  
  
"For now your little engineer will suffice."  
  
"I doubt Captain Hunt will hand him over to you."  
  
"He may have no other choice his precious commonwealth may depend on it."  
  
__________________  
  
Dylan, Harper and the rest of crew watched the news reels from the ice planet. The news reel  
  
showed Harper fighting the two bums in the street and the voice over ...  
  
"From earlier that day proof that the murderer of Congressman Amerton had violent tendencies  
  
as he attacked these helpless street people for asking for a simple throne... the screen flipped to  
  
an interview with one of the street people that had attacked Harper.  
  
"It was awful." he sobbed "He seemed so, so angry."  
  
"AW this is crap!" whined Harper. Dylan put his hand up to silence him and they all continued to  
  
watch the news clip.  
  
"...Here is actual footage now of congressman Amerton's death." The news clip flashed to Harper  
  
holding his own blaster to A strange man's head. The man was begging for his life. Harper gave a  
  
little laugh and pulled the trigger. "Investigations continue as do negotiations with the starship  
  
the Andromeda Ascendant for the return of congressman Amerton's murderer so that that he may  
  
face trial for his horrific crimes."  
  
From there the news reel just started from the beginning again. Dylan turned it off.  
  
"I didn't do it Dylan!"  
  
"I know."  
  
Beka interrupted "those news reels can all be faked Dylan! I say we go in there and blast Tyr out..  
  
we don't need to be a part of some political scandal these people have cooked up. Seamus has a  
  
bad temper sometimes.."  
  
"Hey!" Harper protested  
  
Beka continued, she was in full mother hen mode and was not about to let anything happen to  
  
one of her crew. "But, this is obviously a plot against us? But why pick on Seamus."  
  
"I think we should go to trial."  
  
"WHAT!" everyone replied to Dylan's statement in unison  
  
"It's OK" smiled Dylan "I have a plan."  
  
Dylan transmitted to the authorities that they would be willing to have a trial, if and only if, it was  
  
held on the Andromeda, in free air space, under commonwealth rules.  
  
The Relons, the people of the ice planet, found this outrageous and threatened to kill Tyr.  
  
Dylan played his bluff card.  
  
What made them think that a Nietzschien mercenary was more important to him then a skilled  
  
engineer?  
  
The Relons became a little flustered and informed Captain Hunt that they would make a decision  
  
with in 2 hours. Dylan than retreated with Rommie to the officer's mess to plan their next move.  
  
Harper was more then a little nervous about the whole idea and decided to go  
  
bury himself in revamping one of the bulkheads.  
  
That's where Beka found him.  
  
"It's not your fault you know"  
  
"Beka, ..... I'm busy"  
  
"Nice try but I'm not going away."  
  
"I'd rather not think about it OK?.... I got enough on my mind."  
  
Harper started hammering on a stubborn connection trying to drum out Beka.  
  
On a back swing Beka grabbed the wrench that he had been hammering with out of his hand.  
  
"Seamus...." She started, Harper put his hands up in a sign of defeat.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I know it's not my fault...but if it's not, then why do I feel so guilty?"  
  
"Because your starting to like the Nietzschien."  
  
"HA! Very funny Beka. ME like a Nietzschien after all that happened to my family!"  
  
"He's not from the same group of guys. Look, I know. I don't know if I trust him either but he is  
  
our crew and that's meant everything to us in the past." Beka paused she was treading on thin  
  
ground here. Harper was sensitive about his family and about whom he called family. He didn't  
  
look her in the eyes but he didn't tell her to frell off either. "Look even  
  
if you don't like him he's a part of us, and I do know you Harper, this is the  
  
best thing you've ever had, you would die before you let anything change that."  
  
Harper went back to tinkering in the bulkhead and this time she let him. He  
  
needed to think and so did she.  
  
Just in case Capt. Wonderful's secret plan didn't pan out, she needed to come up with a back up.  
  
Her next stop was Rev Bem's Sanctuary. She cleared her throat loudly to interrupt the chanting  
  
monk. Maybe a little to loudly as Rev jumped a little at the sound.  
  
"Come in Beka." He said without turning around.  
  
"Have you heard anything of Dylan's plan yet?"  
  
"I have ears but the walls do not, so no I've heard nothing."  
  
"What do you think we should do?"  
  
"Have you talked to Dylan?"  
  
"No just Harper, and he isn't saying much."  
  
"What do you suppose we do?"  
  
"Well I do know Harper would do anything to get Tyr back he's feeling really  
  
guilty about it, And I'm not about to leave someone behind."  
  
"do you ever wonder that Harper feels bad because he is trying to live up to  
  
your standards."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"You wouldn't leave anybody behind but he did, which do you think he feels  
  
worse about? Leaving Tyr behind or the fact that he left someone behind and  
  
you wouldn't have?"  
  
Beka crossed her arms and glared at Rev like a stubborn child.  
  
She started and stopped her reply a couple of times.  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Why do you want to save Tyr Beka? To fix Harper's mistakes for him or  
  
because Tyr is a valued crew member?"  
  
Beka thought for a moment. "Because Tyr would save us, even though he would  
  
say he wouldn't"  
  
Rev Bem smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear, what's your plan?"  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
Marshall Jaeger spoke with the Relon high council. One of the council men was the replacement  
  
for Congressman Ammerton. He was pale which was a natural color for the species of this planet  
  
but there was color in his cheeks which indicated he was nervous. It could be he was just afraid  
  
of the bounty hunter. The Relons though a good foot taller then the bounty hunter were stickly  
  
things.  
  
"We...we are not use to dealing with your sort you'll have to excuse us if  
  
we made a mistake in our negotiations with Hunt. What would you like us to do?"  
  
"Captain Hunt is a smart man and I don't believe for a moment he would leave  
  
a crew member behind. If you had got the boy in the first place we wouldn't be in this situation. I  
  
am already less then impressed and so is my Master."  
  
The new congressman's cheeks turned bright red. "We have done all we can...."  
  
"You haven't even begun. Bring me the Nietzschien."  
  
Dylan called Beka into the officer's mess.  
  
"Beka I need you to do something for me."  
  
"Finally decided to bring me in on your plan?" Beka was more then a little  
  
sarcastic but Dylan ignored it.  
  
"You are my plan."  
  
"While Rommie, Harper and I are distracting the Relons with the trial I want you and Rev to go  
  
planetside to try to free Tyr. Beka mouth was open and she had a hard time closing it. How did  
  
Dylan know that's what Rev and she had planned? Did he know?  
  
"What? No arguments or anything?"  
  
Beka regained her composure "Yeah sure how do you suppose we do that?"  
  
" I had Rommie scanned their news nets and we got a map of the planet from their tourism  
  
section."  
  
"They have a tourism section?"  
  
"Yeah well it's not a very detailed map, but it does tell us where there security headquarters are  
  
and that's a place to start. I want you to in disguised, they shouldn't recognize you but better safe  
  
then sorry.  
  
I want you to start asking questions, find out where Tyr is but don't free him  
  
right away unless it's absolutely necessary. Who knows the trial might actually work but if it  
  
doesn't I don't want us to burn our bridges."  
  
_____________  
  
Harper had a plan. He had brought trouble home one to many times to the  
  
Andromeda. This time he was going to fix it. He locked him self in one of the machine shops and  
  
started making bombs.  
  
"Harper what are you doing?"  
  
Harper jumped startled by the sound of her voice and slide one of the bomb components into his  
  
tool belt.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Every time you say nothing it's something."  
  
"AW come on Rommie don't you trust me."  
  
"I trust you Harper I just don't always trust your logic."  
  
"Really it's nothing. Now go away like a good hologram."  
  
"Harper what are you planning?"  
  
"Sheesh what are you my mother!" Harper could activate privacy mode but  
  
Rommie would know anyway and just not tell unless it endangered the ship.  
  
In this case Rommie would tell if she found out. So Harper did something he had never done  
  
before. He turned Rommie off.  
  
_____________  
  
Dylan called for Rommie. He needed to go over the trial with Harper and her.  
  
There was no answer.  
  
What the heck was going on?  
  
He turned on the manual intercom.  
  
"All hands report to the bridge."  
  
Dylan looked at the time as he walked to the bridge. It had been over 2 hours he needed to  
  
contact the Relons anyway for an answer. Just as he entered the bridge the Andromeda shook  
  
hard and shifted to the right.  
  
Dylan was slammed against the bridges doorframe.  
  
"Rommie" he tried again still  
  
nothing. Rev Bem were already on the bridge.  
  
"Something is wrong the Andromeda is not responding to our calls and the  
  
Relons have said no to our offer of a trial and have opened fire."  
  
Beka piped up "I hope you have a plan B."  
  
"I do but it's not as neat."  
  
Beka was going to give a wise remark back when something caught the corner of her eye.  
  
"WHAT THE ...!! THAT'S THE MARU! ..I'm going to kill him!"  
  
Andromeda's avatar flickered into existence. "After me."  
  
"Rommie what's happening?" Dylan was in command and in control with those  
  
three words.  
  
"Harper locked out my holomatrix and had me running a diagnostic loop. I couldn't get free right  
  
away. While I was trying to get free he cross-wired my sensors which I am still attempting to fix.  
  
As a result I did not detect him boarding the Maru or the approach of the enemy ships. Mr..  
  
Harper is  
  
currently heading towards the planet I have already hailed him."  
  
Almost on cue Harper appeared on screen.  
  
"Hey boss, boss you called?"  
  
"Mr. Harper get back here right now!"  
  
"Look when I get back you can throw me in the brig or what ever, I have got to clean up my own  
  
messes. Harper out."  
  
In an uncharacteristic move Dylan banged his hand on one of the rails surrounding the bridge.  
  
Beka and Rev looked a little shocked. Rommie even flinched. Dylan was mad he had thought that  
  
they were finally starting to work as a team. His face hardened but his voice stayed even.  
  
"Rommie target the Maru's engines. "  
  
"NO!" yelled Beka  
  
but before Andromeda could react the Relons attacked with a new volley of missiles. The Maru  
  
was out of reach.  
  
"Dammit!" swore Dylan and returned the Relons fire  
  
************  
  
Marshall Jaeger scanned the Andromeda shortly after the smaller ship  
  
left it's dock. He noticed it was having trouble with it's sensors.  
  
"It seems my friends are doing a good job of keeping your friends occupied."  
  
Tyr stood up behind the Marshall. "They are surprisingly resourceful...this  
  
may be the only opportunity shall we board?"  
  
************  
  
Harper was back on the planet. He had hid the Maru about a mile off and though he had hated the thought he once  
  
again walked through the cold.  
  
"This is to much like earth." And he swore under his breath. But this time he  
  
was better prepared. His hands had healed thanks to Trance but they were still stiff and they ached before they even  
  
got cold.  
  
He was wrapped up in winter gear. All anyone could have seen if they had wanted to would have been his eyes,  
  
which currently were an odd shade of red thanks to some  
  
contact lenses.  
  
Underneath he had temporarily died his hair black. It was a slim disguise at best but it would have to do for now.  
  
He pretty much figured that after he freed Tyr any disguise he had wouldn't help anyway.  
  
He wasn't sure who he was more worried about the Relons or what Dylan was going to do when he got back on the  
  
Andromeda.  
  
__________________________________________  
  
Tyr was pretending to be on Jaeger's side. He knew Jaeger would never believe it but even if he could plant even  
  
the smallest seed of doubt in his mind, just enough for him to make him hesitate once. Tyr knew he could turn the  
  
tide.  
  
Jaeger placed his hand on Tyr's back as they phased on board.  
  
It was a creepy feeling, not one he cared to have again, he could feel his molecules separating and reconstructing.  
  
There was no way to tell if they all returned.  
  
They had phased into one of Harper's engineering bays. This is where he had fought Jaeger in the past.  
  
"What did you want with the boy anyway?"  
  
"My master wants the children back."  
  
Tyr almost spit the words out "The magog's care nothing for their young, it's one reason they are so inferior. I find  
  
it difficult to believe your Master would be any different."  
  
"It matters not what you believe Nieztcshien. But with the little engineers ability to down load information directly  
  
into his brain we can create a superior race of magog."  
  
"Magogs superior to the Nieztcshiens don't make me laugh!"  
  
"Like I said it doesn't really matter what you believe. Now take me to the boy."  
  
"He could be in a hundred places, he's like a mouse in its tunnels. Shall I alert the ship to our presence? It'll be  
  
faster to find him that way."  
  
"It'll be your last words."  
  
Tyr smiled this was getting interesting.  
  
___________________________________________  
  
"Ready missile tubes 3 through 6 and FIRE!" Dylan ordered the launch of defensive missiles at the Relons.  
  
"Missiles launched" echoed Rommie's voice  
  
"Beka evasive maneuvers."  
  
Beka banked the Andromeda hard to the right.  
  
"Capital Hunt the Relons are hailing us."  
  
"Put them on screen Rommie."  
  
"Capt. Hunt I am acting Congressman Havel, we could settle this quickly if you just turn over the boy."  
  
Dylan gave the strange humanoid with red cheeks a cold stare.  
  
"Neither my Engineer nor my Security officer murdered Congressman Ammerton. Return Tyr  
  
and we will talk."  
  
Dylan was careful to say Ammerton's name and not use the word 'anyone.'  
  
The screen blinked off again. The Relons had a huge fleet. The ships were small. Though and not a match for the  
  
Andromeda they were not to be taken lightly. Their sheer numbers kept them in the game.  
  
Dylan wished he was fighting with them not against them, this was not going to be a short battle.  
  
________________________________________  
  
Trance was on med~deck getting things ready just in case. There were many different probabilities on how things  
  
would turn out and a great many indicated someone would get hurt.  
  
Strangely she heard voices.  
  
Everyone should be on the bridge. This was not one of the possibilities she had considered.  
  
"Hello?" she asked tentatively. "Rommie who's that?"  
  
Rommie's hologram appeared before Trance. "Some of my sensors are still inactive I need Harper to fix them."  
  
"Someone's there."  
  
"I'll go look."  
  
But before she could even turn around they were there.  
  
"TYR!" Trance smiled  
  
Marshall Jaeger aimed his gun at her.  
  
"NO!" yelled the hologram Rommie.  
  
Tyr grabbed the gun and the two grappled.  
  
"I knew I should never trust you!" and he threw Tyr against a nearby bulkhead.  
  
Tyr did not let go of the weapon and slammed the Marshall against the wall beside him. "Yes you did!"  
  
"The boy isn't even here, where are you hiding him!"  
  
"HEE HAW!" yelled Trance who attempted a flying kick but missed both fighters and ended up on her tail.  
  
"owowowowow"  
  
Dylan ran into the room followed by the android Rommie force-lances blazing.  
  
One Blast caught the Marshall in the shoulder. He looked up saw he was  
  
vastly out numbered and phased out of the room.  
  
"I hate when he does that."  
  
"Welcome home Tyr" replied Dylan out of breath.  
  
_________________________________________  
  
Harper walked around the market trying to look inconspicuous. He decided to  
  
wear his welding goggles to further his disguise. He didn't know where Tyr was and decided he would try to find  
  
his weapons contact may be he could get some information from her.  
  
He asked questions here and there about weapons and who he would talk to if he was interested. This was a  
  
surpassingly seedy place and Harper liked it.  
  
To be bad they wanted to arrest him. After about 3 hours of questions here and there he was directed to a women.  
  
He hoped it was the right one.  
  
She wore a woven robe something like he would have expected Rev to wear and she was bent over a box of herbs.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
The women turned and faced him, pulling down the hood of her robe.  
  
She was a drop dead gorgeous human. Harper almost did, drop dead that is.  
  
"WOW, I mean, hi."  
  
"Can I help you?" she smiled sweetly.  
  
Careful Harper...mayday,mayday.  
  
"Are you Tyr's friend?"  
  
Who are you?" replied the women.  
  
"I'm Seamus Harper, Tyr and I were going to meet you but something happened and I need to find Tyr."  
  
"Tyr never mentioned any friends." She was suspicious and Harper didn't blame her.  
  
"Yeah well I that doesn't surprise me, look he's in trouble can you help me?"  
  
"What's in it for me?"  
  
Harper thought for a moment. "What was Tyr offering you?"  
  
She pulled him behind her vendor's stall. "$20,000 thrones."  
  
"WHAT! Nice try but I don't think so."  
  
"OK,OK $2000 thrones for the weapons. But what your asking sounds a lot harder."  
  
"Well Tyr was taken prisoner by these guards a need to find him and set him free."  
  
The girl thought about this carefully. Harper had expected her to laugh at him.  
  
"Double the money and get me passage off the planet."  
  
Harper looked into her beautiful green eyes and almost got lost there for a moment. He saw something there, he saw something he knew to well, desperation. Harper recognized it and understood it. He had been there himself. But, Harper didn't have that kind of money but he could take her off planet and maybe Dylan could swing a deal of some sort.  
  
"Deal. Where do we start?"  
  
"What did the guards look like?" Harper told the strange girl all of what happened to him and Tyr. He kept looking in to her eyes. For some reason he trusted her.  
  
______________________  
  
On the Andromeda Dylan was making plans. The last few days have been chaotic. What should have been a simple covert operation had gone  
  
badly, the crew had refused to work together, and a planet he hoped to have join  
  
his commonwealth was threating war. This kind of stuff didn't happen before....  
  
well there was no use dwelling.  
  
What did he have to do to fix this? Well he couldn't change the fact that they were trying to buy weapons because they were but not to use against Relons. They simply had needed weapons. Tyr and Harper had not killed this congressman. But Harper was clearly framed. Why was Harper chosen? The  
  
story Marshall Jaeger had told Tyr about the Magog larvae didn't gel. Then why was  
  
he involved? Hey had to retrieve the wayward engineer before Jaeger did.  
  
This meant getting someone on planet with out the Maru and he had to get them there undetected. Dylan was still angry with Harper for just taking off he had put the whole crew in danger, but that was something he could deal with later.  
  
Scans of the planet had produced the Maru and Harper's nanobots had given  
  
them an approximate location of Harper. Beka and him would go down. Beka would find Harper he would find Jaeger.  
  
______________________________  
  
Harper followed the women. She took him to a security station. It was a little like an office building but it was much more sterile looking.  
  
Harper was getting a sinking feeling. It was a lot bigger then he had thought.  
  
"If you can get me inside I can jack into one of their computers and find out where Tyr is."  
  
"Are you crazy! The firewalls these people have are deadly! If you even go near one it will zap you so hard your heart will stop."  
  
"Yeah well, they haven't met me yet! Hey... you know I don't even know your name? "  
  
She smiled. "My name is Tao...it means the way." Her eyes glowed green softly. Harper had to shake his head to clear his mind. He had to focus on Tyr now, man she was a lot cuter then Tyr though.  
  
"Nice to met you Tao...ok let's get going"  
  
Tao walked up to the security station and started screaming in a loud wailing voice.  
  
The two guards behind the desk ran to her assistance. She pretended to half faint. One of the guards caught her before she hit the ground.  
  
Harper noticed her eyes were glowing. This girl was something special.  
  
He slipped past the entrance desk and grabbed a visitors pass from a tray as  
  
he went by. He was in.  
  
Now he had to find a place to port in to.  
  
Hey saw it a terminal in a corner. He sat down quickly and plugged in. He would have to hurry.  
  
There was they electronic tunnel and he was inside their system when he came out of the tunnel he almost ran directly into a fire walk.  
  
"Eek" he muttered to him self and put on his breaks quickly. That was close.  
  
He started to look around.  
  
This was quite impressive there were firewalls everywhere but he had seen  
  
better.  
  
"What's a back water world doing with a system like this?"  
  
He had to squeeze around another firewall. He could feel the static against his skin and he held his breath.  
  
Well it wasn't really his skin but  
  
close enough.  
  
He saw the list a head of him. He searched through it. Tyr wasn't on it and there was no mention of Ammerton's death anywhere on the system.  
  
"What the frell is going on!"  
  
Harper unplugged. He woke to shouts. Some one at the security centre had come across Harper.  
  
"He you what are you doing?"  
  
"Leaving." Yelled Harper and ran for the door. He grabbed Tao's had as he ran by. She had been still distracting the guards. They ran through the streets.  
  
"Harper..."called Tao. "HARPER!"  
  
"What..?" He slowed and tried to catch his breath.  
  
"You can let go of my hand now."  
  
"Oh." Harper blushed.  
  
Harper let go of Tao's hand but she continued to hold on. They were back in  
  
the market place again  
  
"It's ok." She whispered, her eyes flickered their emerald green. Tao pushed  
  
him against the side of a merchant's hut and she leaned forward and slowly  
  
kissed him.  
  
Harper closed his eyes and kissed her back.  
  
"It figures! You dump the Andromeda, say your looking for Tyr and I find you  
  
making out with some girl!"  
  
Harper blinked as if coming awake. "Beka?"  
  
"You're in huge trouble Seamus!"  
  
"Beka what are you doing here!"  
  
"Saving your ass! Tyr's on the Andromeda. Who's the babe?"  
  
"Hey!" protested Tao  
  
"This is Tao, what do you mean Tyr's on the Andromeda?"  
  
"He escaped, listen I need to talk to you alone."  
  
"Tao can ...."  
  
"Alone Harper."  
  
Harper smiled to Tao "Be right back."  
  
Beka and Harper walked a few feet a way.  
  
"Listen," Beka whispered "Who is she?"  
  
"She's Tyr's weapon contact."  
  
"Are you sure did she give you a code word or anything?"  
  
"umm No but she ....knew about the weapons, plus I think she likes me,  
  
she has the greatest eyes."  
  
"How long have you known her, an hour Harper that's to fast even for you. Listen Jaeger is on the planet He's looking for you that means there could be other like him here we  
  
need to get out of here."  
  
"How did you guys get here anyway? We blasted a whole through the Relons  
  
defenses, made a fast get away and used the FMS to disguise the Andromeda.  
  
Love the black hair by the way" She rubbed his hair like he was a dog.  
  
"Thanks he smiled, is Dylan pissed?"  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
Harper looked back at Tao "Listen Beka I promised her I would get her off the planet."  
  
"Snap out of it Seamus, We don't know who she is?"  
  
"At least let me say good bye." Harper walked towards Tao.  
  
"Listen Tao things aren't working out....."  
  
"Is that women your boss?"  
  
Harper nodded.  
  
"My boss is here now to and he was looking for you."  
  
Tao's eyes glowed bright green. Harper couldn't look away and found himself  
  
frozen, he couldn't even blink.  
  
Marshall Jaeger stepped out from behind the hut Tao and Harper had been leaning against moments before.  
  
Beka froze, as Jaeger trained his blaster on her.  
  
"Good Work Tao" drawled Marshall Jaeger and then to Beka and Harper  
  
"How does it feel to be in the presence of a profit?"  
  
"She's a profit?" Beka wanted to keep him talking while she thought of a way out of the situation.  
  
I muffled gurgle came from Harper. Everyone ignored him.  
  
"She is one of the leading disciples of my master. Mistress Tao has powers you  
  
can't even imagine. She need only blink to kill the boy."  
  
"I thought you needed him, what are you really after?"  
  
From out of no where the flashes of a force lance were shot in the air.  
  
The people in the market started to run and scream.  
  
"Drop your weapon." Dylan said very authoritative.  
  
Jaeger opened fire. Dylan and Beka both dove for the minimal cover the market place  
  
offered and returned fire.  
  
Harper stood in the centre. Shots firing around him barely missing.  
  
No one was gaining ground so from the hiding spot Jaeger had picked for her Tao blinked  
  
And held out her hands little bolts of lightning shot out from her mouth,  
  
eyes and fingertips.  
  
Harper gasped. He could move again but now he couldn't breath. He clutched at his throat but there was nothing there he could free himself from.  
  
He slowly fell to his knees. His vision turned red and he could feel the ozone of electricity in the air.  
  
Dylan fired. He hadn't really been aiming for the girl before but now that  
  
he realized she wasn't some innocent victim and was actually trying to kill Mr. Harper it was different. The blast hit Tao in the shoulder.  
  
She screamed and fell to the ground. Profit or not she was still human and she bled.  
  
Harper fell to the ground gasping for breath.  
  
"NO!!!!" screamed Jaeger and he ran to Tao side. Dylan fired again this time hitting Jaeger in the leg. Jaeger acted like he didn't even notice the blaster wound  
  
and scooped Tao off the ground.  
  
"You'll pay for this!" and with that Jaeger and Tao phase~shifted and disappeared.  
  
"Damn I hate when he does that" swore Dylan.  
  
Beka was at Harper side helping him to his feet. "Are you OK?"  
  
"I think she liked me." Harper gasped then smiled  
  
Beka smiled too "your hopeless Seamus."  
  
Harper coughed. "I wonder what he really wanted from me?"  
  
"I'm just afraid we'll find out."  
  
Dylan put his hand on Harper's shoulder. "Let's get back to the Andromeda before the guards show up. "  
  
Harper smiled again "And hopefully trouble won't follow us home this time."  
  
--------------  
  
The Andromeda crew stood in the officer's mess each holding a champagne glass.  
  
They were celebrating the commonwealth's newest members the Relon's.  
  
Dylan had found evidence that Jaeger, was blackmailing the Relons and that  
  
Jaeger had , killed ambassador Ammerton and then tried to frame Harper for the murder.  
  
Jaeger had wanted to spread the word that the crew of Andromeda was not to be trusted.  
  
In the hopes that no one would join the commonwealth therefore dissipating the  
  
alliance against the world ship.  
  
Dylan offered to protect the Relons from Jaeger in the future and they readily signed the charter.  
  
It was still unclear why Jaeger had wanted Harper.  
  
"I tell you they were after me because Tao had the hots for me."  
  
"Boy she didn't even know you existed when we were first on the planet."  
  
"Tyr your such a pessimist...;"  
  
"A realist."  
  
"Whatever, I think she was just watching me from afar." Harper sighed dreamily.  
  
"Obviously not far enough."  
  
And they all laughed.  
  
Fini. 


End file.
